Today I was reminded of just how many hats my husband wears throughout the day, and I thought it would be fun to share. Cory is always up very early to start his morning with Bible reading, and then it’s off to the races. He puts on his dairyman hat and heads out to the pasture to wake up the sleepy, jersey ladies. He gets them to the barn (some days with a little more excitement than others) and starts the process of hand milking 3 cows. He often has a visitor with him (either a hungry cat, or a child to hang out with him). Then he loads up our family van with his electrical supplies and heads in to the house to clean up and eat breakfast. After family devotions he quickly grabs his electrician hat and heads out the door.
Sometimes he gets home early and works on a project around the farm. Today he grabbed his tire technician hat to replace the tire on the seeder and then replaced that hat with his planter hat. When he gets home from planting our field he hopes to put on his apiarist veil (beekeeper hat) and check the bees. Soon after this he will put that dairyman hat back on and head back out to get the cows which are a lot more rambunctious in the evening. Sometimes he will put on another hat and do another project. Last night he put on his mechanic hat to work on the tractor with a dear friend. Sometimes he will put on his clown hat and the kids think that is great fun! After another round of family devotions in the evening, it’s time to shower and put that night cap on (sometimes a little later than he had hoped).
Ever since I met my husband one of the qualities that I have noticed about him is his willingness to learn new skills and try them out (sometimes failing at first, but never afraid to keep going.) He has been a great example to all of us. A few years ago we bought an old combine for about 1500 dollars, and he knew nothing about running or repairing this monster. I watched him struggle with that combine for days trying to figure out how to use it, and then fixing it when it broke down. Thankfully another dear friend came over and gave him some instructions on how to use it which helped a lot, but I don’t think we harvested much those first few years.
Last year that combine broke down again right before our wheat harvest, and I watched him spend two days standing in the scorching sun, (soaked with sweat because of the extreme heat and humidity) wondering if it would be best to just quit. I know he wanted to haul that combine to CMI and be done, but he kept pushing through. When he finally announced that he thought it was fixed, a big cheer erupted from the family. He headed out to our einkorn field, (we had tried to grow this for 5 years without success) and he harvested enough wheat to last our family two years. I still get a little emotional when I think about his perseverance in that situation.
Throughout the years my husband has put on a lot of hats like plumber, fireman, construction worker, stonemason, roofing, diesel mechanic, computer technician, and so much more. I know that he considers his role as husband and father to be the most important hats he wears, and we are so thankful for that! I can only say praise the Lord for giving us such a great husband and father, and that anything good in our family is of the Lord not us. Cory’s example has radiated throughout our family, and I am starting to see some of the family following his example of wearing a lot of hats and not being afraid to try new hats on.
How many hats do you wear? I would love to hear from you in the comments!